Mexican meth news from across the country

Crystal meth: Itawamba's silent addiction
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, meth is one of the most rampant and dangerous drugs on the rise in Mississippi. The DEA web site goes as far to say that the drug is reaching “epidemic proportions in the state.”

“Most of the ice that is coming into the area is Mexican,” he said. “There are no labs that are capable of making ice in the county that we know of.”

As U.S. Meth Labs Dry Up, Mexican Cartels Step In
As Congress considers restrictions on the sale of cold pills used to make methamphetamine, it might want to look at what's happened in Oklahoma, which has slashed the number of home meth labs yet failed to curb meth use.

But police say a massive influx of meth made by Mexican "superlabs," which can obtain tons of pseudoephedrine, has kept meth plentiful and potent. The number of Oklahoma users shows no sign of falling, and property crime still keeps the Oklahoma County Jail at capacity.

Man sentenced in meth conspiracy
A Mexican citizen living in Joplin received 12 years in prison Wednesday for participating in a methamphetamine conspiracy.

Limon-Gonzalez has admitted he conspired with others to distribute 50 to 200 grams of meth as early as Nov. 11, 2003, to March 4 in Jasper County, (Missouri) the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He also admitted illegally re-entering the United States after being deported in 1996.

Nine indicted in meth conspiracy
A federal grand jury in Springfield indicted eight men and a woman this week for allegedly conspiring to distribute methamphetamine in southwest Missouri.

Those indicted included Adan Mendez-Rivera, 26, Raul Alberto-Guerrero, 31, and Geronimo Velasquez-Gomez, 28, all Mexican citizens residing in Carthage; Carlos Mulgado, 36, of Carthage; Polo Hinojosa-Garcia, 24, a Mexican citizen residing in the Joplin area; Noel Fonseca-Garcia, 20, a Mexican citizen residing in Pittsburg, Kan., and Armando Figueroa-Dominguez, 31, a Mexican citizen residing in Rogers, Ark.

Battling the meth `epidemic'
Unfortunately, success in closing such domestic labs won't stop meth. It only means that Mexican cartels pick up the slack. An investigation by The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Ore., reported that Mexico last year imported nearly twice as much pseudoephedrine--one of the keys to illegal meth production--than is necessary for the production of cold medicine.

Sheriff: Meth 'creates havoc throughout the whole system'
But the slack has been picked up by supplies coming in from out of state, most of it from Mexican sources, and U.S. Highway 101 has become a major corridor for traffickers, Bergin said. Just last month police, with the help of a drug-sniffing dog, found a quarter-pound of meth hidden in the dashboard of a car during a traffic stop.

Meth crisis in the valley getting out of control
Methamphetamine crime is reaching epidemic levels in Idaho.

Idaho State Police say that 90 percent of meth found in Idaho comes from Mexico. The other 10 percent is from homemade meth labs in the Gem State.

Methamphetamine addiction chokes Tennessee
Unfortunately, the story is not unique. Meth addiction has become an epidemic in Tennessee—the state’s law enforcement busted 1,574 clandestine meth labs last year, ranking us runner-up in the nation in lab seizures, second only to Missouri. Though many law enforcement officers are optimistic about Gov. Phil Bredesen’s Anti-Meth law, which passed in April and has greatly reduced the number of lab seizures across the state already, they say importation—from Mexico and super-labs in bigger cities like Atlanta—is filling the void.

Meth: More Iowans fall hard as 'ice age' takes hold
Mexican cartels have seized on a void left in the drug market created when hard-hit meth states began to place much tighter restrictions on sales of cold products containing pseudoephedrine, Iowa's undercover drug agents say.

In recent months, dealers have been peddling a more-expensive, more-pure brand of ice made in Mexico that has been smuggled through existing pipelines along interstates from the Southwest, particularly Arizona.

Local briefs
Two Mexican nationals pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to federal charges involving methamphetamine, cocaine and firearms.

Martinez and Nieves-Villareal were arrested in July after the Escambia County (Florida) Sheriff's Office said officers seized 9 ounces of meth with an estimated street value of $50,000, 3 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $250,000, an Uzi submachine gun, a Mac-90, two automobiles and $20,000 cash.

Task force faces big challenges
However, the greatest challenge facing Phillips and the drug task force is the influx of meth into North Platte. First introduced in North Platte in the 1990s by a group of bikers, Phillips said he believes it is now coming in from Mexico and delivered into North Platte. (Nebraska)

6 to face meth charges in federal court
San Diego- Six people face arraignment in federal court Tuesday on charges of importing methamphetamine from Mexico and distributing the drug in San Diego.

Alven Armando Diaz, Robin Cheri McMasters, Arnulfo Campas-Cuadras, Alma Ramos-Gutierrez, Karely Diaz-Hernandez and Armando Ayala Diaz were charged in an eight-count indictment with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, and distribution, possession and importation of the drug.

I think that you get my point. These are not news stories from the last year or the last six months. These are all recent stories. The list I find is almost endless.

I highlight the state and the country of origin (Mexico) of the meth but what isn't shown is the absolute devastation that this causes our local communities and our country as a whole.

The reduction in availability of meth would be instant if we would only stop illegal border crossings. The reduction in crime would follow. The burden on law enforcement would lessen and our quality of life would improve.

It's hard to find such complex problems that have such simple solutions to provide sweeping relief. Until our national, state and local governments give us nothing but lip service on meth reduction when they ignore the one solution that would have the biggest effect.